Environmental Group Sues Florida Over Big Cypress Records

Environmental Group Sues Florida Over Big Cypress Records

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A longtime environmental group is suing the state of Florida for allegedly violating open-government laws and refusing to release public records related to a controversial detention facility in the Big Cypress National Preserve, known by some as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Lawsuit Filed Over Public Records

Friends of the Everglades filed the lawsuit Oct. 14 in Leon County’s 2nd Judicial Circuit Court against the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The group says the state has withheld documents about financial arrangements with the federal government concerning the detention center.

“Alligator Alcatraz was planned in secret, built in secret, and has been operated in secret — in defiance of Florida’s public records laws,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. She said state officials have “misled the public they are supposed to work for,” adding that her group will continue to fight until the Everglades is protected as required by law.

Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Act requires public access to most government meetings and records. Friends of the Everglades claims the state has ignored those obligations.

Earthjustice attorney Paul Schwiep, representing Friends of the Everglades, said he has been seeking the records since June 24, just days after the detention center was announced on social media. According to Schwiep, both the Naples Daily News and The News-Press have also requested the documents and have yet to receive a response.

The new filing is the third lawsuit related to the facility, which sits near the eastern edge of Collier County. Friends of the Everglades previously sued in June, claiming the state and federal government violated federal environmental laws designed to protect endangered species, water quality and habitat during construction of the center.

Dispute Over Federal Funding

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled in favor of the group, finding that government agencies failed to complete required environmental reviews before building the detention site. However, a three-judge appellate panel later reversed her decision, allowing the state and federal government to continue operations.

Schwiep said new evidence shows the state withheld key funding documents despite earlier statements made to the court. “The Florida Division of Emergency Management wrongfully withheld the grant application documents and the grant award,” he said. “These documents are public records. Friends of the Everglades, the courts, and the public are entitled to them under Florida’s constitution.”

The Big Cypress detention center is now at the center of three separate lawsuits. The latest focuses on transparency, while another addresses environmental impacts, and a third centers on the treatment of detainees — including whether they have been granted due process or allowed contact with relatives, attorneys, and friends.

Friends of the Everglades, founded more than 60 years ago, has long opposed development in the Big Cypress National Preserve. The group says it will continue to press for full disclosure of the project’s records and compliance with both state and federal law.